The Long Game (Seattle Sentinels #1)

Chapter Twelve

Lexi

It’s been barely thirty minutes since Tucker was in my office. I had fallen apart after he left. Tears came quietly sliding down my cheeks before I even knew they were there.

I clean up my face, apply concealer for the bags under my eyes, reapply mascara, and add a few eye drops to take down the redness. I haven’t gotten my concentration back on the merger, but I’m at least beginning to open the email chain in an attempt to get some work done. Then a knock on the glass door startles me. Tucker stands at the opening.

He doesn’t take a step in but he can tell I had been crying, as no amount of clown makeup could ever allow me to hide from Tucker.

“Hi,” I say.

“Hi.” He takes a breath and starts again. “I want to take you out to dinner Thursday night; can I do that?”

What? I wasn’t expecting that.

“I’m not so sure that’s a great idea.”

“Twenty years, Lexi. We’ve meant something to each other for twenty long years. You don’t want something more than friends?... fine.” He flinches. “But I’m not letting you burn down the house. I won’t bring up the romantic or painful parts of our past, since you clearly want them to stay in the past. But I’d like to reminisce about the good ones, remember why we’ve always been good friends – why we still should be good friends.”

“I’m not losing you over this. I fucking refuse. I lost too much time with Luca and with you. My Great Uncle’s death is yet another reminder of what’s important. Dinner, Lex. Please?”

I contemplate for a second. He’s right on so many levels. We do mean something to each other. And not all of our history is painful.

The guilt of the injury to his knee and the hurt of seeing him with someone else has me stuck in this weird limbo. I’m too scared to move forward or backward with Tucker.

“I don’t want to lose you either,” I say finally. “Ok, dinner… but no romantic restaurants. I mean it. No Tucker- Evans-lady-slayin’ plan.”

I give him a distrusting look but his sexy smirk breaks down my walls and we both laugh.

“Ok, no ‘Tucker-Evans-Lady-Slayin’ plans’ … got it.”

He makes an imaginary note-to-self in the air and my heart flutters at his funny and sweet gestures to lighten the mood.

“But just so you know, that’s not a real thing,” he says.

Something captures Tucker’s attention. He’s looking past me, through my glass window. I turn to look, and I see it. Sebastian is standing at the window. He’s in a wide stance and his arms are folded. He’s staring in our direction but when I turn to look at Tucker, I can tell there are words being exchanged between their eyes that already sound possessive, and Tucker’s look the loudest. The silence is uncomfortable, so I walk in front of Tucker to break their eye contact and to push him out of the door.

“Ok, dinner on Thursday. Where should I meet you?”

“I’ll pick you up at your house at five. Wear something comfortable.” He turns to leave, glancing back out the window toward Sebastian, but Sebastian isn’t in his office anymore.

“At my house at five? I’m never out of here that early.”

This has always been part of our problem. That Tucker is the distraction I don't need… but can't help wanting.

“One night, Lex. Can you make an exception?”

“Ok, but something comfortable? Where exactly are we going?”

He ignores my question but turns his eyes back to me after breaking his attention from studying the office across the way

“It’s a surprise. I’ll see you at lunch tomorrow, downstairs – everyone’s coming.”

“Lunch? Tomorrow’s Wednesday! You said dinner Thursday,” I say, frustrated that he’s barely paying attention to me now and throwing out additional plans I didn’t agree to when I have a huge deadline on Friday.

“I have some business to take care of. I have to go.”

He leans in, places his warm hand on the side of my neck and kisses the hairline scar above my forehead.

The scar I got from the lake accident that I wouldn’t have survived if Tucker hadn’t been there to pull me out of the water. He lingers there for longer than he should, the memory of that day undoubtably running through his mind too. My body responds by heating up. No one has ever made me feel as safe or as protected as Tucker has, so why have I been too scared to give him my heart?

He looks as though he’s contemplating kissing me. I’m about to lean my head back to accept a kiss to my lips, but I hold on to the shreds of my self-worth. He said we should be friends, right?

He didn’t refer to it as a date and I told him not to pull a fast one. A quick burst of disappointment floods me but I push it aside.

He grabs his phone out of his pocket and hits the send button as he walks away, making big strides that my too-tall heels won’t be able to keep up with. I watch him walk down the hall towards the elevator when I hear him greet his sister on the other line.

Guess I’m going to see him for the next two days. I better stop for some wine on my way home. I’m drinking tonight.

I’m alone in my office for another hour before another knock comes. I’m even more shocked by the man standing in the doorway.

“Sebastian? Hi!” I say as I get up from my desk and come around to greet him. “This is a surprise.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I hope you don’t think I’m a stalker. I spent about a half hour convincing myself not to come and another half hour knocking on every office door in this building. Everyone in your company probably thinks I’m crazy. Security should be up any minute to drag me out of here.”

He rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably.

“Oh uh, met your dad. That was interesting. Didn’t mean to meet the father before asking out the daughter. Things are working out a little backwards.”

He says it as if he’s only talking to himself. As if I wasn’t supposed to hear him. But he did blurt it out while standing in my office.

“Huh?”

My cheeks must be a light shade of pink at his admission.

“That was a couple steps too fast. What I really came up here to do was to check on you.” He takes a couple steps closer as he assesses me.

Lucky for me, all the damage done is internal. My mind – my heart.

“I saw you crying earlier today. I wanted to come over then, but it seemed private. Didn’t figure you wanted anyone to see you in that condition. But when I saw him again in your office… I… I don’t know. I had to make sure you were ok.”

My dad walks up to the door.

“Lexi, everything ok?”

“Good to see you again, sir,” Sebastian says, reaching out a hand to my dad to shake it

My dad takes it and smiles but the smile he is giving, unbeknownst to Sebastian, is half-cocked and skeptical.

“Call me Tom.”

My father looks at me. He’s expecting an explanation for why an exceptionally good-looking intruder has taken up residence in my office.

“Dad, this is Sebastian Clark. He works directly across from me.”

I point across the way to Sebastian’s office directly on the other side of the courtyard.

“We ran into each other at the coffee shop last week. He wanted to see how the other half lives,” I joke.

My father seems satisfied but the look on his face still has me guessing he has a reason for not giving Sebastian the full Tom Benson charm.

“Oh, is that right? What do you do Sebastian?”

My dad is warming a little, but only a little.

“I’m an Intellectual Property Attorney. I mostly handle our patent division.”

Sebastian’s chest puffs a little as he informs my dad. He’s proud of what he does and it’s a big turn on.

“That’s interesting work, son. Innovation is the life blood of this country and it’s important to protect those who have the creative ability to improve our lives. I admire what you do. I’ve always told Lexi that we need a lawyer in the family. My son is currently in the NFL and my daughter is an incredible talent here in our firm. She’s going to make her dad look like he was building makeshift huts by the time she’s done with this place. I guess I’ll have to wait to see what the grandkids decide to do.” He smiles at me.

“Oh, uh, are you?…Sorry, I didn’t know…” Sebastian awkwardly hints at a pregnancy

“Oh, God no!” I assure us all. Even my dad has a deer-in-the- headlights look to the possibility.

“My brother just had a son a few months ago. I still have some time before I am popping out any future family lawyers. Thanks for that dad.” I elbow my father who is now taking the hint he should go.

“Ok, well it was nice to meet you, Sebastian. If a million-dollar idea ever pops in my head…” My dad waits for Sebastian to reply.

“I’ll be right across the building any time Tom. Good to meet you…twice.”

He smiles at my dad and Sebastian’s perfect white teeth and kissable lips have me mesmerized. My father is making his way back down the end of the hall to his office, and I’m unknowingly biting my lower lip at the thought of his mouth on mine. He turns to look back at me. His eyes dart down to my mouth and there’s no doubt… there’s a moment there.

“So, the guy who made you cry. Is it too forward to ask who he is?”

“Just a family friend. I’ve known him longer than my permanent set of teeth.” I joke.

“Family friends come to your office to make you cry. Seems like an odd relationship.”

“You have no idea,” I mumble.

Our receptionist walks up and clears her throat.

“Lexi, Mr. Broadrick is on hold for you? Says he wanted to make sure you got his last draft for the contract with the Golden Bay Hotel merger. Should I tell him you’ll call him back?”

“No, I’m leaving, Sonia,” he says to our receptionist.

I guess he has met everyone and has an impeccable memory. He did say he spent a half hour in the office looking for me. She might have already given him her famous mac and cheese recipe for all I know. But unlikely. She only gives that out to people she really likes.

His smile is warm and there is an obvious kindness to this man.

“Just checking in on Lexi but everything seems to be in order.”

Her flirty smile, which I have never seen, is damn cute on her sweet sixty-two-year-old face. The attention he is giving her is more than she gets from a lot of people as she is shy and lacks the confidence that my dad has been working to boost with her for the last twenty-three years.

“Come by anytime Sebastian if you want to chat more about Parisian art. Believe it or not, it’s not usually a conversation starter with the masses. And I’ll give you my special mac and cheese recipe… Lexi’s been trying to get it for years!” she giggles.

Sonia was an artist in her younger years but couldn’t break through. She became a receptionist for my dad in her thirties but when she has down time, she can be found in the breakroom looking through art magazines and coffee table art books.

“Ok, I might just do that. If you end up going to the pop-up art showing that I mentioned earlier, come find me. I’ll introduce you to the artist, my client. He could talk your ear off about how the lighting in France is superior for painting a picture. I think you two would hit it off.”

He turns to me.

“I’ve taken up enough of your day and I have some pressing phone calls to make too. I just wanted to see you up close for myself. Now that I have, I will escort Ms. Sonia back to her desk.”

He looks back at Sonia and she’s beaming.

“See you around? Maybe we could run into each other? Downstairs? Around lunch?”

“Actually, I’ll be headed down to the cafe at lunch tomorrow to grab a bite with family who are in town.”

“Ok, well maybe I’ll see you down there anyway. See you around, Lexi.” He smiles and turns to leave, guiding Sonia down the hall.

********

Tucker

By the time I make it back to my truck from Lexi’s office, Sabrina and I have made plans to meet downtown to see what properties we can find. I told her I wanted to look for homes close to the Benson’s, and she about laughed me out of town. It’s a highly sought-after neighborhood but I know what she did for Lexi. She’d pull a rabbit out of a hat for me, too.

I promised her I didn’t care about cost, size, or condition. “Just get me anything within walking distance to their house, even if you have to bribe someone to move.”

“I don’t understand the rush, Tucker. Let’s take our time… expand to outside city limits. You can get so much more house, and there are some gorgeous estates out there,” Sabrina tries to convince me.

“Failure isn’t an option here sis. It’s all or nothing.”

“It took me six months and finding a place that wasn’t even listed to get Lexi into her dream neighborhood. Personally, I think she overpaid for the place, but it is a killer location, and they don’t pop-up every day. Wait a second!” she yells out. “Please tell me this has something to do with Lexi Benson.”

“What are you talking about?” I deny.

“Are you kidding me, Tucker! A cactus plant could read the dirty thoughts you were having about Lexi when she was anywhere in proximity. It’s always made me a little uncomfortable being around you two. I was never sure when you would eventually pounce on that poor girl, and I didn’t want to be anywhere near to witness it. Honestly, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened sooner.”

“Why do you say that?”

“The Evans’ looks… it’s a true curse.” Sabrina and I share a dad, so I know exactly where she’s going with this.

“How does your husband live with you?”

“He does it easily. Want to know what he likes best?” she teases.

“NO! Jesus! Not if I ever want to have a boner for the rest of my life.” I shake off horrifying images and try to get back on track. “Listen, I’m not sure if there is or isn’t a future with Lexi Benson… but if I don’t get this house, I might miss my shot. I’ll spend whatever it is. I don’t care if your commission is so big it sends Henry to medical school! Get me a house on that street. Any house. I don’t care if it’s a trailer. ANY HOUSE!”

Henry is my five-year-old nephew and from the things I saw him putting up his nose, he’s less the “doctor type” and more the type keeping a doctor’s salary paid.

“Ok, got it.” She laughs. “We might have to get creative then. I will look at any homes that have been listed in the last few years. I’ll see if anyone backed out that might be ready now. You’ve spent a lot of time in that neighborhood. Any chance you’ve got friends in the area that you could have circulate that you’re looking to buy a house? Maybe someone has considered wanting to move but hasn’t made the leap yet? Getting to them first with a solid offer might be our best shot with such little notice,” she suggests. “I’ll get my assistant to start digging into old listings and I’ll send out a companywide text to see if any of my associates have leads. I’ll meet you down at the Benson house in an hour, and we’ll start door knocking. If you want an offer in today, we have to hit ‘em hard and fast.”

“I’m not above begging. And I have one specific house in mind. Mr. Mckinny’s house, the house across from Tom and Shiela Benson’s. I want to start there,” I say.

“Good. Work on that Evans pretty-boy pout you do so well, and we might have a shot. See you in an hour.” She hangs up.